January 30, 2009

I was exploring youtube looking for songs by Nouvelle Vague, when I stumbled upon Waves and this lovely video. While watching it, I had all kinds of feelings: awe, sadness, loss , freedom and finally happiness. I HAD TO SHARE IT WITH YOU. After suffering from Alzheimer for 4 years, my dad passed away 15 days ago. He lived a long productive life and I´m relieved he´s stopped suffering. This video is my goodbye to you, dad. Go in Peace! Love you.

January 29, 2009

After reading messages at the Images4education Ning (Bob Sprankle´s message) , I learned about a very funny tool for playing with photos. You upload your photo and can see yourself in different hairstyles, accessories. It´s really fun.

How can we use this with students?

You could make a slideshows of pictures you´ve created with iam60 and use it when teaching how to describe people physically.

You could also ask students to do the same with one of their photos, write a description, and then publish it in a class blog or a personal webpage.

If you´re using edmodo, you could do the same described above and ask students to share photo (edited) and description w/ the group.

January 28, 2009

Learning vocabulary is always a challenge to language learners. I´d like to share two sites which can be extremely helpful to students when studying. Both sites let you create word flashcards for free.

The 1st one is Cramberry. It´s very simple. You sign up for free and then can create sets of word cards (front + back).

The second one, is my favourite. I´ve been using it with my EFL intermediate students. I´ve created sets with the vocab they are supposed to know for their English exams and make it available to them. I also use the different exercises in the set in class on the interactive whiteboard as a warmer.

This is how it works: you create a set with words + definitions or questions + answers. Then the website generates 5 memorization exercises for the vocabulary set. If your students sign up, you can even see who has done the exercises and their score. This is a set I created about vocabulary to describe people.

January 25, 2009

This is a tutorial I´ve made using DIMDIM to help teachers start using the Promethean e-board. We´re giving a face 2 face training but I wanted to have a tutorial so that teachers could refer to later on.

January 22, 2009

I´ve just come across an interesting animation in VIMEO and wanted to share here. In the description it says it was made on walls in Buenos Aires and Baden. Watch and see if you like it.It´s called MUTO and was made by BLU

January 17, 2009

I´d like to share pictures taken during our trip in January 2009. Our first stop was Cuiabá in Mato Grosso, Brazil. It was a 12-hour-trip by car. The temperature was milder than usual, it was 25°C. We visited friends and also traveled to Chapada dos Guimarães in order to take the kids to the beautiful waterfalls there. Second stop: Tangará da Serra. We livedin Tangará da Serra for 10 beautiful years when my children were born.We visited friends for 3 days.

Third stop:Foz do Iguaçu (Paraná - south of Brazil). We had to sleep somewhere in the midle of the way but got to Foz do Iguaçu after 17 hours driving. The city is on the border of Brazil/ Paraguay/ Argentina. It´s the second city with more foreigners in Brazil and has wonderful places to visit: Itaipu dam, Iguaçu falls, the borders, a Mosque, a Budhist temple and many more.As a whole we travelled about 4,000 km in 9 days. Yes, Brazil is huge!

January 16, 2009

After reading a tweet, I decided to try out http://screentoaster.com for making screencasts. I used it to talk about the sidebar of the blog but I don´t know why the sound disappeared in the middle of the recording.

Advantages- you don´t have to download any program
- it shows the movement of the mouse, audio and webcam image
- easy to upload to screentoaster site w/ a simple click ( took 10 min) and provides you with the URL and the embed code.
- you can also publish it in youtube.
- you can maximize the screencast and see it in full screen.

January 3, 2009

I have the pleasure to invite teachers who are interested in technology to join us in this free online course offered through the Electronic Village Online. There are variouscourses being offered and the one I´m involved in is described below. The courses start on 12 Jan and finish on 22 Feb. There will be lots of learning, sharing and interaction taking place. An opportunity that should not be missed.

How can adding images to your in-class and online activities raise student interest? How can you help learners develop 21st century multiliteracy skills through active learning?

In this six-week online workshop offered through the Electronic Village Online, you will be introduced to various online image manipulation tools and will learn how to effectively incorporate these resources into their teaching practices. You will explore how images can be used in educational settings for photo sharing, storytelling, slideshows and comics creation, as well as understand how Creative Commons licensing can be beneficial for classroom use. By the end of the workshop, you will have the chance to develop a plan to begin incorporating digital production into their lesson plans.

WELCOME!

I'm Ana Maria Menezes. An EFL teacher, teacher developer and online moderator. An enthusiastic blogger and curious researcher. M.A. in Linguistic Studies with special interest in teacher development in online environments.